Binaural fusion, masking level differences, and auditory brain stem responses in children with language-learning disabilities.

This report examines binaural fusion for dichotically and diotically presented pass-bands of filtered speech in a group of 18 normal children and 18 children with language-learning disabilities. Binaural masking level differences for tonal stimuli and auditory brain stem responses for click stimuli are also reported. Results indicate lower overall scores for the experimental group on the diotic as well as dichotic conditions for the binaural fusion tasks, although both groups scored relatively higher in the diotic condition. Masking level differences and auditory brain stem responses were not significantly different for the two groups. These findings suggest the potential usefulness of binaural fusion measures in the assessment of auditory processing abilities in children, although certain cautions regarding their application and interpretation must be exercised.